The Manor of Radbourne has been held by the
Chandos family from the time of the
Norman Conquest. It is one of the few UK landed estates that has passed only by inheritance and marriage since the Conquest, when
William the Conqueror’s ally
Henry de Ferrers was granted it in the 11th century. On the death of Sir
John Chandos, an original Knight of the
order of the Garter, in 1369 it passed to his niece who married Sir Peter de la Pole of
Newborough, Staffordshire. The present house was built in about 1739 for his descendant German Pole, probably by architect William Smith the Younger. Several members of the Pole family served as
High Sheriff of Derbyshire, including Samuel Pole (1651–1731), who was the father of
Edward Pole, a lieutenant-general, and
Charles Pole, a Member of Parliament. The
Pole Baronets of
Wolverton, Hampshire, descend from Charles Pole.
Erasmus Darwin lived in the house briefly, following his marriage in 1781 to Elizabeth Pole. ==See also==